Tapping the Power of Story and NarrativeTerrence McNally, Strategic Communications Consultant

Why are narrative and storytelling uniquely powerful when it comes to motivating your audiences and advancing your cause? Learn the elements of a good story — whether in a Hollywood screenplay or a one-to-one conversation. Develop the practice of communicating in “story packages” — combining a compelling story, a great piece of data, and a clear call to action. Explore how to build a storytelling culture within your organization.

The Hispanic population is expected to increase 200 percent in the United States between 2005 and 2050 — gaining significant cultural and economic influence. The result is a market that American businesses and other institutions can’t afford to ignore. While brands and organizations are taking notice, the Hispanic market is still underserved. Some brands are creating truly exceptional work, but most of them haven’t connected with the consumer in the right way. Thus, in the increasingly complex marketing world that often conspires against creativity, the Hispanic market could be your big opportunity to have fun.

While there’s no shortage of stories at Berkeley, our charge is finding simple, powerful ways to tell them. The raw material we work with is often filled with long mission statements, complex facts and figures, cumbersome titles, and other jargon. How can we breathe life and excitement into this wealth of information? Discuss tips for befriending simplicity and allowing your own personal style and humanity to bring warmth to your words. Learn new ways to keep your audiences engaged and inspired, while helping Berkeley’s message stand out.

Integrated Communications

Big Give Marketing and Social Media: How Our Team Got It Done– Room 102Stefanie Kalem, Online Editor, University RelationsChristina Sponselli, Social Media Director, University Relations

Three days before the 2014 Big Game, Berkeley held Big Give — its first-ever, 24-hour online fundraising campaign to raise support for students, faculty, and programs. We received $5.3 million in donations from around the world. Throughout the planning period, our goal was to work with units across campus to build an attractive and engaging experience for the community. We’ll discuss our approach to research and planning, coordinating with colleagues and partners, and designing our communication and social media strategies. Bring questions — Big Give 2015 is just around the corner!

Social Media

An Introduction to Reddit: Tapping into the Front Page of the Internet – Room 203Michael Emerson Dirda, Executive Communications, Public Affairs

What do intimate chats with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a successful crusade against the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the launch of the world’s largest Secret Santa program have in common? They happened on Reddit! Get a primer on the content-sharing community that bills itself as the “Front Page of the Internet.” Walk away with ideas about how to cultivate a presence on Reddit and how you and the experts and leaders within your unit can use it to enhance your visibility and gain potentially massive boosts in publicity.

Gain an overview of the current state of Berkeley’s content management systems for organizing, publishing, and editing content for the web. Discuss the top five tips for building and/or redesigning a campus website. We’ll summarize the tools and resources available to you, both existing and in development, including: – Berkeley-branded WordPress theme – Berkeley-branded static HTML template – Berkeley-branded Drupal theme – OpenBerkeley Drupal platform – ExpressionEngine

You’re presenting a marketing plan and someone asks you to “just print this chart,” but doesn’t tell you how it fits into the larger plan. Or you’re a designer and someone says, “Can you just add Oski and make her red sweater blue?” Most of us have experienced people sketching out solutions on the metaphorical napkin and asking us to make it look good — to “sparkle-ize it.” Maybe they think they know the answer or don’t have time to discuss other options, but the result can be demoralizing to the recipient and result in subpar work. Learn how to “reverse out” design thinking — how to work with the person who drew the napkin to understand the needs and goals and come up with meaningful solutions that everyone contributed to.

As marketers and communicators, we have more options than ever before for conducting our work — from powerful web analytics to myriad social media platforms. But where do we start? This session will cover the marketing funnel, a simple but effective way for highlighting the strategies and tactics that will give you the biggest return on your time. We will cover the customer/audience journey and setting simple metrics.

Social Media

Doing More with Less: Using Hootsuite to Grow Your Social Media Presence – Room 204Bethany Cordell, Director of Digital Marketing and Social Media, Cal Athletics

Join us as we dive headfirst into the workings of Hootsuite and how you can use this platform to build a stronger and more robust social media presence with limited resources. We’ll discuss how to gather and interpret analytics, how to easily build reports to share with your staff, and how to stay ‘hip’ and relevant with current social media trends.

The UC Information Technology Accessibility Policy is here to make you better communicators! If you are communicating accessibly, you can be assured your message will be delivered to everyone, which will help make Berkeley a more inclusive community. Learn about how visitors with disabilities typically experience your website and other electronic communications. The Web Accessibility team at Berkeley will help you understand who these individuals are, and give you 5 tips to help you most effectively reach everyone with your websites and communications.

1:55 p.m. | Break

2:05 p.m. | Breakout Session 3

Storytelling

From the Medium to the Message– Room 204Jeremy Rue, Lecturer, Graduate School of Journalism

This presentation will cover how mediums affect content. It will introduce the concept of “story design,” and how new factors such as interactivity play a role in influencing the structure content for the web. We will discuss desktop/laptop computers, mobile devices and tablets, and more recently wearable computing or the Internet of Things (IoT).

The field of digital analytics is constantly changing, with a new data source or measurement tool emerging almost every month. But if you build a smart, flexible analytics organization, you can be ready for almost any change. Learn how assembling the right people, processes, and technology will help you stay current in measuring marketing and sales performance so that you can get the greatest return on investment and measure progress in your marketing efforts.

With 350 million strong members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. Have you utilized this platform for your own professional growth? Join this interactive workshop to learn about the most effective ways to improve your profile, conduct research, expand your network, and build your professional brand on LinkedIn. You will get a chance to receive valuable feedback from others on your LinkedIn profile and strengthen your professional branding. Bring your laptop!

This interactive workshop will lead people through a methodology for capturing how customers or end-users experience a service, i.e. identifying their stories and using them to gain empathy and knowledge and drive service improvements.

2:55 p.m. | Break

3:05 p.m. | Closing Keynote – Krutch Theater

Communicating i​n the New Millennium: Talking with Millennials, Xers,​ and Boomers so They Can All Hear YouLee Caraher, President, Double Forte

As Millennials continue to rise at a fast and steady pace, so too does the potential for dissonance and tension between them and older generations. Through real-life examples and humor, this talk will push past the data and myths about Millennials to break down generational misperceptions and create successful environments. What are some surprising truths about younger adults? How can both groups move toward each other with understanding and respect? How can we harness everyone’s power — wherever they are on the generational scale — to build productivity and enthusiastic engagement?